Luke 18:1

Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow

18:1 Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart.

Luke 9:29

9:29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became very bright, a brilliant white.

Luke 11:1

Instructions on Prayer

11:1 Now Jesus 10  was praying in a certain place. When 11  he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John 12  taught 13  his disciples.”


tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn Or “should pray at all times” (L&N 67.88).

sn This is one of the few parables that comes with an explanation at the start: …they should always pray and not lose heart. It is part of Luke’s goal in encouraging Theophilus (1:4).

tn Grk “And as.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

tn Here the preposition ἐν (en) plus the dative articular aorist infinitive has been translated as a temporal clause (ExSyn 595).

tn Or “the appearance of his face became different.”

tn Or “became bright as a flash of lightning” (cf. BDAG 346 s.v. ἐξαστράπτω); or “became brilliant as light” (cf. BDAG 593 s.v. λευκός 1).

tn Grk “And it happened that while.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

10 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

11 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

12 sn John refers to John the Baptist.

13 sn It was not unusual for Jewish groups to have their own prayer as a way of expressing corporate identity. Judaism had the Eighteen Benedictions and apparently John the Baptist had a prayer for his disciples as well.